Byrne’s role in Brides­maids ac­tu­ally paved the way for her part in I Give it a Year, a ro­man­tic com­edy from pro­duc­ers Work­ing Ti­tle Films (who made Love Ac­tu­ally), about a cou­ple, Nat (Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) in their first year of mar­riage.

‘‘It’s a re­verse sort of love story, so mix­ing up the usual for­mula of a ro­man­tic com­edy,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s from writer/ di­rec­tor Dan Mazer who wrote Bruno, so . . . it’s edgier, it’s broader (and) that’s prob­a­bly what makes it a bit dif­fer­ent.’’

She says her involvement all came about be­cause Mazer (a long-time col­lab­o­ra­tor with Sacha Baron Co­hen since his Ali G days) saw her in Brides­maids and wanted to meet her for I Give it a Year.

‘‘It really opened up the doors for that,’’ she says.

‘‘He came from such a great com­edy pedi­gree, Dan, and with want­ing to work with Work­ing Ti­tle, it was a really serendip­i­tous kind of project.’’